We Can Get Through This
by yue679
Summary: Ruka never wished that she would get so involved. She, of course, didn't listen. When did she? I mean, when had Hotaru Imai ever not been right? "You want to have sex in front of people? Whoa, I didn't know you were into that kind stuff, Hotaru."
1. Chapter 1 Girlfriend? I guess not

**Disclaimer: I don't own the amzingness that is Gakuen Alice **

**Already boys and girls! I'm gonna make this very quick. This story was created by me about 3 years ago. I am 17 now and after getting back to this story and reading it, I realized something. **

**I kinda sucked hahahaha so HERE IT IS! We can get through this, edited, revised, and better than ever! I added so much more, and honestly, the plot has totally changed!**

**Hopefully this time, I have more success with this story, because, it's WAY better than the first one. Oh foolish, 15 year old me, what were you thinking?**

**CHAPTER 1**

KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Coming!" A cheerful voice was heard behind the door, followed by a few thumping noises and claims of pains.

A young boy standing on the other side of the door rolled his eyes "Hurry up, Polka the bus is going to leave."

"Okay I'm done." Said a smiling Mikan as she came out of the three-star room. Her hair whipping past his face as the brunette ran out of the room.

"Let's go, Natsume! We don't want to keep Hotaru waiting. We wouldn't want her to get mad at you for not being ready on time!" yelled Mikan, who was all the way down the hallways already. A little vain popped on Nasume's frowning face, irritated already that he had to wait for her. "What the hell? Who taught her to be so conniving like that? She really needs to stop hanging out with bad influences like lincho." Natsume whispered as he sighed and decided that catching up to Mikan would be the best thing to do. He didn't really want to be the cause of a moody Hotaru.

At the bus stop, a particular group of teens were chatting animatedly as they waited for two of their friends and the 12 o'clock bus.

"Wait wait wait, let me get this straight, are you, kitsuneme Yoshida, telling me, Kokoro Yome, that you, as a human being with at least an IQ of 90, think that Shakira is hotter than Megan Fox?"

"I don't think it, I know it."

"And they call you my twin?"

"If you were, I would deny you"

"Guys, stop it. Our "fun" day as a group is no time to be fighting." said Yuu in a worried tone, and a slight frown on his face. Meanwhile, you could here Nonoko and Anna scoffing at the argument.

"Leave them Yuu." said Sumire coldly, "they are obviously too stupid to realize that their useless, and very dumb banter could just totally ruin our day out." said a very pissed off Sumire, while glaring at Koko, "or relationships for that matter."

Koko only sweatdropped as he tried to pacify an annoyed Sumire, who just mumbled something that sounded like insensitive jerk.

A certain cerulean-eyed lad just stared at his friends with an amused face. He laughed and shook his head when Sumire started choking Koko. He turned from the sight to stare at the amethyst-eyed girl who was sitting quietly by Yuu. He was gripped by the picture of Hotaru staring off into space, her hair swaying with the light wind. She had a distant look, but suddenly turned to look at him straight on like she had heard him call her.

Her stoic face turned into a bemused one and when she quietly winked and turned from him, he cursed at himself for letting her catch him and just knew that there were going to be consequences for it.

She simply loves it when she's right.

Just when he was thinking of ways to avoid Hotaru that day, everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard the, slightly annoying sound of Mikan screaming.

"Hoootttaaarrruuu!"

The said person, even though had her head somewhere far away, reacted by instinct, got her baka gun out and shot at the brunette that was coming frighteningly fast at her. The running figure crumpled to the ground, and slowly vanished. The group was slightly confused, but then understood when they heard Mikan giggle as she hugged Hotaru from the back.

"I think you need to give Misaki-sempai her alice back, you're having way too much fun with it." said Hotaru. Mikan grinned at this, "you're just annoyed with the fact that I tricked you."

"You sucker hugged me while I was thinking. I know that you are not familiar with it because your brain is too small to even begin to process thinking, but it's something," she looked at Koko and Kitsuneme, "most of us do."

"Hotaruuu" whined Koko, Kitsuneme, and Mikan at the same time.

"She's right polka, now get off of her before we miss the bus."

"Just in time Natsume! The bus is here" said Anna gleefully. "Come on Mikan, Hotaru, we have some major shopping to do."

The boys stared as all the girls with maniac grins and a stoic Hotaru that seemed like she was being dragged, ran towards the bus. "Come on guys! yelled a hyper Nonoko, "you guys don't want to miss the bus now do you?"

"Actually, I kind of do." Kitsuneme murmured, "All we're there for is to carry bags and pay for our girl's meals." hesaid with a frown. As they all agreed, Koko stepped forward and with his fist held high he screamed, "God, protect us from the evils of the females and let us keep our head in the game, and the ultimate price!"

All the guys stared at him as they entered the noisy bus, "what's the ultimate price?" asked Yuu. Koko took his seat next to Sumire and waited for his friends to settle down."Well, my dear lincho, I don't know if you have noticed, but my Sumire is quite an animal, and I'm sure, from what I've 'heard'," he said while pointing at his head, "you receive the ultimate price almost every Wednesday night."

Lincho's face reddened as the boys snickered and took their seats next to their partners. Natsume sat next to Ruka, since Mikan had decided to annoy Hotaru with a story while totally ignoring him, which the raven-haired boy twitched at.

"Why Wednesday nights?" asked Ruka, who seemed truly curious.

Yuu stuttered, and leaned into the boys, whispering so Nonoko wouldn't hear him. "SShe's always...excited, after chemistry."

Ruka half-smirked, "stimulates her alice."

Yuu looked more embarrassed, "I guess"

Natsume listened to the guy's conversation with a bored face and turned to Mikan, who was still talking animatedly to Hotaru, who didn't to be listening much. He wasn't very happy so he did what an unhappy Natsume does. Insult.

"Hey, ugly." said Natsume by Mikan's ear, which made her snap out of her 'funny' story. "Who the heck are you calling ugly, ugly!" said Mikan huffily. Natsume smirked after getting a reaction from her. "Are you calling ME ugly? little girl you have to go get your eyes checked, I am NOT ugly." Said Natsume as he leaned back on his seat.

"Jeez Natsume, tell me, why did I fall for you, because you seem to be in love with yourself well enough for the both of us."

"Ah, but you said it, you did fall for me, so there's nothing you can do about it" said Natsume all high and mighty.

Mikan just looked at him. "Oh, you are absolutely right it's not like I can just dump you right now and say yes to that date I got asked to yesterday with that boy or that other boy OR how about those other, what was it Natsume, oh that's right, 17 boys, which I might add were rather handsome."

Everybody could swear they could count a few veins that were popping on Natsume. He opened his mouth to say something when the bus driver interrupted him.

"We are here!"

Everyone stood up and made the way slowly to the front to get out. While exiting the bus, Mikan snuck her hand into Nasume's and smiled at him, "I wouldn't dump you for any other boy," said Mikan and kissed him on the cheek.

"Well, you did say that you wanted to have a big family one day, and I just thought that it would be sad for you to end up with a boy that didn't have that part of his body to help you with that particular task."

Mikan gasped as she jumped down to the sidewalk. "Natsume, you would castrate them."

Natsume kissed her on the lips, "only while thinking of you." he said like it made complete sense.

Mikan frowned at him. "Selfish bastard. I'm gonna make sure to buy a lot of clothes today."

"I'm not your bitch, you know? I don't have to carry your shit."

"You will if you want the 'ultimate price'." stated Mikan, while she air quoted the words 'ultimate price' and said them in a mocking tone. She laughed at his disproving face, because of her snooping. She walked off with the other girls.

"I think you need to return that super hearing alice, you're having way too much with it." said the fire caster. Mikan just winked at him and laced her arm with Sumire's.

"Come on lets go" said the girls to one another and dragged their boyfriends and friend. The teens had gotten their allowance that week and didn't waste any time in making plans of spending their money. Sadly, the boys were forced to accompany them to the stores all around Central Town.

"How does this look, Kitsu?" asked Anna, as she twirled in front of a mirror.

"It totally doesn't" mumbled Kitsuneme, who was yawning and had a small tear by his eye.

Anna turned around, her bubble pink hair and the white dress she had on following behind her.

"What?"

"I said it doesn't"

"I doesn't what?"

"Make your butt look big."

"Did he just say that?" came a voice from a changing room.

"I think he did" answered a stoic voice.

After many more incidents like those prior and before to that one, and a congratulations and a pat on the back from Natsume to Ruka for not having a girlfriend to answer to, which he just nervously laughed at. The gang ended up stopping at one of the most famous fast food restaurants in Central Town, request of Natsume himself.

"That was so much fun!" exclaimed a happy Mikan on the table while they ate their food.

"Too loud, baka" said Hotaru, and chucked a fry at Mikan's head. Everybody laughed at the two and kept conversing with each other. Some bickering, some telling jokes, mostly Kitsuneme. At one moment, Koko asked Sumire if she wanted the rest of his fries.

"Why don't you ask Megan Fox?"

"Sumire, we are facing world hunger, and you want to worry about some stupid movie star, who is not that great an actress, and does not even have a third of your beauty?" said Koko with an almost serious face. Sumire laughed and pecked her boyfriend's lips.

Hotaru almost laughed at her friend's banters and then really smiled when she caught Ruka staring at her again.

Oh, how she loved winning. She had predicted this, and of course, she was never wrong, so she did what her brain had calculated for her to do by now, and she excused herself from the table quietly, but not before fully looking at Ruka in the eye, sending her message loud and clear.

'You're going to lose'

Ruka gulped at Hotaru's bemused expression, as she stood up from the table to head for the restrooms. She walked away with a little bit of an extra sway to her hips that you didn't see every day with Hotaru Imai, and he knew that she was tempting him.

Well, she won. He looked around the big table, noting that everyone would be way too preoccupied with the fact that his best friend was being the pervert that he is and was somehow making it awkward for Nonoko to keep eating her foot long, and for Yuu to look up from his plate. He downed his Dr. Pepper before slipping away from the table to the restrooms.

He waited outside of the ladies' restroom, tapping his leg in a nervous manner.

Nowadays only she could make feel as nervous as this.

The bathroom door opened, but was shut back again when Ruka stealthily maneuvered to push himself into the room while covering Hotaru's mouth, in case she decided to scream. He let her go, once she saw it was him, and turned to lock the door. When he turned around, she was putting her purse down on the floor, and turning to him.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"You wanted to play this stupid game"

"Why would you make the situation harder than what it already is?"

"Because I always win, and this," she said waving her hand around, "was what I needed to do to prove that. He had struggle written all over his face, but it suddenly changed to anticipation as he thought over the facts. She read him quickly, knowing he understood that she had just won the stupid game, and smirked. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him, while snaking his arm around her waist. He pulled her letting their lips meet as a desperate action and kissed her roughly. She responded back, like it was an old routine and responded back with the same force. Their bodies were close now, hips together and just the feel of Hotaru's chest against his was enough to send him over.

Hotaru rubbed Ruka's leg with her hand and smiled into the kiss when she felt him shift. She did it again but this time she started by his hips and went slowly down. Ruka was, to say the least, excited, after nights of suppressed desires to, putting it bluntly, have sex, to finally get something.

She was fast unfastening his belt, as his mouth traveled from her lips to her jaw, and her neck, when he decided to open his big mouth. "You're the best girlfriend in the whole world." Ruka half sighed half quivered out, while smiling happily into her neck. Her slender fingers suddenly froze, and Ruka stopped too, because he knew that he just killed any chance of letting his little buddy be at least a little happy.

The raiven-haired's tone sounded pissed when she sneered the word 'girlfriend' at him and unlocked the bathroom door to leave. Ruka, in a moment of surprise, swiftly grabbed her wrist and turned her around.

"Oh no, you don't," Ruka pulled her back with an angry face "Dammit Hotaru! We are not fighting about this again!" huffed Ruka while tightening his grip on her wrist but failing to notice Hotaru's eyes widening and then closing from this sudden pain.

When he did, Ruka let out a low gasp and drew his hand quickly like he had been stung. Hotaru composed herself, and glared at him while holding her wrist. She turned to the door, but before leaving, she turned around and slapped him hard across the face. Hotaru went for the door, and before Ruka could get a word in she had left him alone in the pink bathroom. He reached for his red cheek and sighed sadly. He dragged himself back to his seat and noticed that the inventor was still in the restaurant, eating her blueberry cheesecake while Sumire told her about all the calories she was eating. Everybody had been so engulfed in their group conversations that they failed to notice that the two had left for almost ten minutes.

Everybody except a raven haired boy, who just looked up and watched his suspicious acting friends. From Ruka red cheek to Hotaru's stoic expression, that if you looked at close enough, could see something was bothering her. How big, he didn't know

-School-

Everybody was walking towards the girl's dorm, the boys to drop their girlfriends off. Then suddenly they realized something. "Where are Hotaru and Ruka-pyon?" asked the confused brunette as she looked around. Nobody answered since they didn't know either.

Natsume just glanced at Mikan and looked straight ahead. He was thinking of the event that had unfolded at the restaurant. He was worried about his best friend, and he would be lying if he said he didn't care about Hotaru's side of it. For some strange circumstances that come with life, the two most stoic and unmoving people in the academy found that they have a lot in common. For starters, they were both stoic and unmoving, and, of course, Mikan. Natsume figured that having her as a friend meant that he had one more person that could help him with Mikan which showed that the Black Cat had a little respect for her and trusted her enough to help her with his moody girlfriend. While for Hotaru that was one more person she could tease and blackmail, and occasionally be nice to

'I'm rather intrigued by this turn of events, and honestly, the academy was getting kind of boring. If this is what I think it is, things are about to get more interesting' thought a smirking Natsume.


	2. Chapter 2 Girl I have dirty sex with?

CHAPTER 2

"Goodnight Natsume" said a smiling Mikan, and then leaned in to kiss the said boy. He kissed her back, and said his goodnights to his girlfriend. He walked down the hallway to head to his dorm, while he thought about his two friends and the events of what had seemed like a rather long day. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard loud stomps from above him, and he was pretty sure they were coming from the hallway in the third flood of the girl's dormitory. He raised an eyebrow when the stomping stopped and it was dead silent. He shrugged his shoulders and wondered out of the building.

'I hope they work things out' was Natsume's last thought about his friends as he walked through the school to get to his own special star room, and rest for his upcoming mission.

-3rd FLOOR OF GIRL'S DORM-

Footsteps could be heard along the narrow hallway. The first pair was a sort of walking/almost jogging pace while the other pair of feet were total stomps that seemed to be trying to catch up to the person in front of them.

"Would you stop so that we can talk" said a slightly pissed Ruka.

"Why should I? We have nothing to talk about" said a calm Hotaru.

"Hotaru, please, I just want to talk to you" said Ruka in an irritated tone, almost catching up to the inventor.

"Why bother, I don't need the explanations right now. I am tired and need my rest. Besides I can feel the tone of your voice; why try to talk to me when you don't even want to?" asked the Ice Queen as she stopped in front of room 345, and reached for her key in the back-pocket of her blue jeans. When she finally founded them she reached for the knob and unlocked the door. She went in, not really sure if Ruka followed her in.

She turned around and her eye twitched when she saw that nobody was there, pretty sure that Ruka had been just behind her. She reached for the door and closed it, peeking a little to see if there was anyone outside. Nothing. Sighing silently, she closed the door. Quietly, she went to her window and closed the curtains, which was usually the beginning of her nightly rituals, and then went straight to her closet, to pick out a few things for her shower, also a part of her nightly routine. She was absently going through her nightwear drawer when she groaned.

How did the game turn out so wrong? She was sure she had calculated every single detail to the dot and, of course, it would end with her being the winner, and Ruka winning too by default, showing that he has no self-control when it came to his hormones. What was he trying to prove anyways? and why did he have to call her that?

Hotaru frowned as she walked from her dark room to her lit bathroom. She undressed herself, not bothering to close the bathroom door. She went into the shower, turned the water on, and let the hot water hit her back, relaxing all the tight knots in her back.

After the water had been running for a couple of minutes a frowning Ruka came out from under Hotaru's bed and dusted himself. Ruka sighed and the thought that any person could easily get in her room right under her nose and she wouldn't notice made him irritated. Well, someone that had his skills anyways, he knew Hotaru wasn't a dumb girl to just be fooled by anybody. He sat in her bed, and looked around studying the mess that was Hotaru's room. For being a schedule type person and OCD about her inventions, she could be a very messy person. There were random articles of clothing, books, and knick knacks all over her floor and desk, and of course, her bed wasn't made, but that was like that all the time.

He laid down on the soft bed, and a small smile formed on his face as he inhaled Hotaru's vanilla scent that seemed like it was permanently imprinted on her pillows and sheets. After about 20 minutes the rapid sound of water, it suddenly stopped. The animal boy waited in the dark room for the raven haired girl, with his arm behind his head and his legs crossed. He entertained himself by watching her shadow moving around in the lit bathroom, as she finished some more of her nightly routines. After a few minutes Hotaru came out, wearing a light purple tank-top and a pair of black silky shorts, she had a towel in her hand which was gently drying her damp hair.

"Have you cooled off now?" asked Ruka calmly, not moving from his position, staring up at the ceiling.

Hotaru stopped in her tracks at the familiar voice, but quickly getting over the sudden shock, just looked at him and kept drying her hair. She then turned around and went in front of her mirror to comb her shoulder-length hair.

Not happy with silence as a response, he turned his head to the side getting a full view of her back. His gaze wondered from her shoulders, down her slender waist, to her round butt following her long slender legs. Ruka bit his bottom lip.

Will she get mad if I grab her, throw her on her bed and have my way with her. It seemed to work for Natsume when he and Mikan fought.

"Would you get out already?" said a pissed off inventor as she turned around showing her serious face, which only meant that she was not joking around, and had obviously not cooled off.

Maybe she will mind. Damn

Ruka only stared at her with a bored look. He was testing her. The nerve!

"Come on, let's talk" said Ruka as he sat up and patted the space beside him, inviting her to sit with him. She stared at the spot and sighed "I'm not in the mood to talk to you" said Hotaru not moving from her spot. Ruka fixed himself in the bed in a more comfortable position, supporting himself with his hands behind him "well, we have to talk sometime and if we don't talk right know then the problem will only get worse" said Ruka looking straight at her

She stared with as much force and stubbornness, not wanting to back down, but in her mind she knew she was going to give in because he was right. It always got worse if they didn't talk about it right away. Damn.

"Also, we have to keep our promise of never going to bed mad at each other. We've been successful so far, why ruin it?"

She looked away but nevertheless moved and sat down at the far edge of the bed, too far for his comfort. He sighed. Why did he fall madly in love with this girl again? Well… never mind, he just did and that's the whole reason why he's putting up with this. He scooted closer, glad that Hotaru didn't make a move to scoot away from him.

"Okay. Now, why is it exactly that you are mad at me?" asked Ruka looking at her.

"I don't want you calling me your girlfriend" said Hotaru straight to the point. He sweat dropped. He was glad that his girlfriend wasn't the type that, when it came down to it, walked circles around an issue, but it also hurt his feelings to hear that from the girl that had been with him for the last year.

"Umm, okay, that doesn't explain much" said Ruka while giving her a 'help me out here' look. Hotaru thought a bit and collected herself because she wanted to say things right. She looked straight into his eyes, starting her speech. She had always liked his eyes, the way they turned a beautiful shiny blue when the sun hit them just right.

Not the right time.

"The fact that you call me your girlfriend makes me mad" Hotaru started, now staring at the wall in front of her. "A girlfriend is someone that you take out on dates, hold hands with and do all the mushy crap that we do, but in public." said Hotaru with a serious face.

Ruka's gaze fell on her lap, and he wore a thoughtful expression as he processed what she was saying. It was very simple when he thought about it, and honestly, it was something that bothered him too. That's why the whole stupid game had started, because he had wanted to show her that maybe it was better if they weren't together and Hotaru said that it wouldn't work, simply because of the fact that he can't be without her. It sounded pretty arrogant when she had said it, but it was so true. His face came up to meet her annoyed expression. She was never really the touchy feely type when it came to the relationship, and didn't really like to talk about feelings.

Ruka then smirked, remembering the last thing that she had said, "you want to have sex in front of people? Whoa, I didn't know you were into that kind stuff, Hotaru. It doesn't really matter to me, though we'll have to practice in front of our friends first because, well, totally didn't expect that and I'm not really sure that I can do it in front of strangers but I think that if I can practice…should we call our frien- BAM!

"That's not what I meant!" shouted a very annoyed Hotaru, with one of her feet stomping on the back of the boy that was face-down on the floor. "You idiot" said the blushing inventor as she regained her composure and went back to her seat on the bed. How could he make fun of her when she just had to say something she considered embarrassing enough? She looked at the unmoving body and without mercy, kicked it on the side. "Come on, stand up. I know I didn't really hurt you" said Hotaru calmly.

She heard a low chuckle that was muffled by the floor and had the urge to hit him again. He got up as if nothing happened, sat next to her and pouted, "you know, it still hurts a little, I'm not superman" said Ruka. He looked at the girl beside him, who was looking at him with cold eyes and a face that didn't show a hint of repentance. Her face, she was beautiful, and frowning didn't suit her.

"Stop frowning, you are getting wrinkles" said Ruka as he pointed at her forehead. She frowned more deeply at the thought and then relaxed her face. "It's your fault if I end up looking like I'm forty by the time I'm twenty," pointed out the raven-haired girl. "Especially if you keep cutting into my much needed sleep, like you are right now, so if you need to say something, you need to say it fast."

He smirked at this, "Are you telling me that I'm cutting into your beauty sleep?"

"If you're not going to take me seriously then why don't you leave" said Hotaru as she started to get up but a hand stopped her and pulled her lightly, dragging her back down again.

"I'm sorry, you're right, and I do get what you're saying, okay?" said Ruka "but I thought you didn't mind anymore, the fact that we kept our relationship a secret." finished the boy while the Ice Queen turned around looking at him. Her usual stoic expression forgotten and replaced by furrowed brows and tight lips. "Yeah, I know, but I still don't like it when you call me your girlfriend, when nothing about this" said Hotaru while pointing at the two of them "screams 'we're a couple and she's my girlfriend'. It makes me feel like I'm in a lower place when it comes to our relationship compared to our other friends and their relationships." said Hotaru as she turned her head to focus on an invisible spot on the wall. Ruka took her chin without hesitation and made her look at him.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but remember I'm doing this to protect you, not because I don't want to parade around in central town, wearing a big sign that says 'Hotaru's sex slave and boyfriend'" said Ruka reaching for her hand and caressing it softly, "all I've ever dreamt of since we were in the seventh grade was to be able to give you your first kiss in front of the whole academy and tell every single person in this damn place that you were mine."

"Aww, cute bunny boy has loved me since he was 13. What's that? Like three years?"Said a smirking Hotaru. Ruka gave her a look, "Who's not being serious about people's feelings and thoughts now?"

"Yeah well, that was just pay back for before, and besides you're not uncomfortable with being all mushy honest with your feelings. I actually think that you thrive in seeing me cringe every time you say things like that."

"Maybe I do." smiled Ruka. Hotaru got a little irritated at the fact that sometimes he could be a little unpredictable with his reactions to things. She knew missions were making him to be the kind of person that expects the unexpected.

"Okay, getting back to the seriousness of the situation, I do understand what you are saying and you know how I feel, so tell me, what should we do about it? I can stop calling you my girlfriend, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you go. I already tried that, and it didn't work out well. So?"

Hotaru raised her eyebrow at the question, and instead of answering him, she crawled away and slipped into the covers on the side of the bed that he wasn't sitting on. "I don't know, you're the special star, you're supposed to be this big 'genius'. Why don't you figure it out, and get back to me with something that makes me happy." said Hotaru in her cool voice, with her back facing him. Ruka glared at her back, and then internally laughed at the fact that she's still sore because the higher ups made him a special star because he was their new powerful toy doing missions, but they passed it off as him being "too smart" to be a triple star.

He crawled into the bed and slipped under the covers next to her. Hotaru tensed up a little, but Ruka ignored it and made himself comfortable by molding his body to hers, successfully spooning her, and snaked his arm around her tiny waist. He rested his head right behind hers and breathed in her vanilla and lavender shampoo. It always made him feel better when he was stressed. Hotaru relaxed under his touch, and closed her eyes thinking how comfy and warm her position was at the moment. She really liked how Ruka seemed to be able to cover her with his broad shoulders and arms.

They laid there, in the comfortable silence of the room. Ruka's thumb tracing small circles on Hotaru's stomach, while she ran her smooth fingers through one of Ruka's scars on the arm that was encircling her.

"I hate the academy." she murmured. He brought her closer to him, as if he could protect her from those negative feelings by keeping her with him.

"I still want to call you my girlfriend." he murmured back, not really saying anything about her comment. "I know what you're saying, but this is what I'm saying. I still want to have sex with you, and I don't think that has changed for you either. Not only that, I still want to be able to kiss and hug you, and hang out with, and do all the mushy stuff because I love you. Now, knowing that, it would feel just wrong if, between us, I call you my friend, and not my girlfriend. If we really did that, then I would really feel like I'm treating you like you mean something less than what you really are to me."

Hotaru remained unmoving, taking what he said in. Then, she turned around so she was facing him and touched her forehead up to his, while cradling his head in her slender hands. She gave him one of her rare smiles, and kissed the tip of his nose. He smiled back at her, happy that she was finally happy.

"You're stupid."

Ruka's eye twitched, "what?"

"If you had just kept your alice hidden like Mikan the idiot did, then we wouldn't even be going through this" Hotaru said as a matter of fact.

Ruka's expression became sad and he closed his eyes to block out the thought that the girl he loves might just decide to leave him because the situation, honestly, it sucked, "I'm sorry. I wish I could offer you more than what I am…" Ruka stopped when he felt a single finger on top of his lips. He opened his eyes and cerulean clashed with amethyst. "Stop it baka. I made the choice to jump into the boat you were in; you didn't drag me with you. I don't want you to think that you are being 'unfair' in any way towards me, because I explode when I get annoyed with the situation we have been forced to deal with. Yeah, it was your situation first, but no matter what, I would have still ended up with you, missions or no missions. I love you, and I am telling you, we can get through this." Hotaru whispered to him with such assurance in her voice that he couldn't help but believe her, I mean, she was kind of right all the time.

"If we're going to blame someone for this, we can blame the academy. I know you don't want to hear it, but it's not like I care," Hotaru smirked but instantly sobered up, "and I do hate the academy for all of this."

"You are right, but you're also right about me not wanting to hear it." Ruka said seriously. "I have the same opinion when it comes to the academy, but they were desperate, and they weren't going to let me go, not then, and not now. The last wind alice died and the previous one graduated. The academy likes my alice, what it can do, and they want me to do missions, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it."

Hotaru couldn't help but stare at her lover's eyes and be mad that they could ruin something so good. She really did hate them.

"Besides, I'll be fine, it's not like I'm a reckless fighter or new to this like that last guy with the wind alice. I mean, come on, I can take on the famous Kuro Neko in an equals match if I ever wanted to" said Ruka proudly. It wasn't that he wanted to fight his best friend, he was just, like a boy, proud about it.

Hotaru rolled her eyes. Ruka smiled and put his hand on her upper thigh, and slowly wrapped it around his body. He smiled lazily. "Anyways, I hope that after all of this, we have reached the agreement that I want to keep calling you my girlfriend, but if that's not gonna work out for you,, then how about we just call you 'girl-I-have-dirty-sex-with" said Ruka grinning.

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

Did she always have that thing with her?

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**It'll make me very very happy **** I need feedback guys! and if you give out ideas and I use it, I'll make sure to give you guys a shout out. **


	3. NEVER peek at Mikan's underwear

**READ ME **

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Okay guys, listen up, I'm pretty sad that I don't have more reviews than what I do right now. Now, I don't want to sound pushy or anything, but if you guys like the story so much that you guys put it on your "alert story" file thingy (thanks by the way, I'm flattered ), then you can give me a review giving me feedback. U know what I mean? Okay, now that that's settled!

I really hope you guys are liking this new version of "We Can Get Through This". After the little changes I have made and the major changes to follow for this story, I'm feeling very confident about it

Enjoy chapter 3! We're going to delve a little into the past and learn about how chapter 1 came to be.

**Middle school corridor, 3 years ago. Everyone is thirteen. **

"I wonder how I did on our last chemistry test"

"We're supposed to be getting it back today."

"I know. I'm nervous, Chemistry is not exactly my forte. Now, give me some flour and a pan, and I'll make you a top-notch cake."

"I would feel better about the test if I had been able to read sensei's mind for the answers to the test. I can't believe they sealed my alice."

"I feel a little creeped out by the fact that you're smiling while saying that, and knowing that you probably failed that test."

"You like it when I smile, Sumi-chan"

BAM!

"…"

"I should've studied. I never got the chance to fly over to the desk to look for the answers. Who would have thought that the one test I don't study for, sensei wouldn't fall asleep like he always does during tests."

"You never study Kitsuneme."

"Yeah well, that wouldn't have mattered if lincho would've just gone with the plan and used his alice, but noooo, he decided to be an honest person."

"You should've studied, then you wouldn't need to cheat, stop blaming me for your actions."

"Hehe, lincho told you! Hotaru, Ruka, Natsume, how do you guys think you did?"

"…."

"I think I did well, Sakura"

"…"

"I refuse to involve myself in idiotic conversations."

"Ditto"

"Hotaru! Natsume!"

"I don't understand what you guys are freaking out about? I thought the test was so easy"

"…"

"I don't think you get to comment in this matter, Nonoko" Nonoko pouted. Anna came behind her, and patted her shoulder.

The chemistry topic ended, and the group found their places in the classroom after arriving. Even after being in their second year of middle school, they each had kept their spots from when they were in elementary.

The thirteen-year olds were talking animatedly, some more than other, when a quavering voice was heard from the door. The substitute teacher peaked his head in through the door, "Narumi-sensei will not be coming for English today because he has a 'cold', and I'm...not available right now, so you guys can have a free period, but Jinno-sensei and Serina-sensei will be here for the classes they teach." Loud groans and moans of disapproval erupted all throughout the classroom, and the substitute teacher, ran away before they took their anger out on the messenger.

Natsume glared at the spot where the teacher had been, "tch, if Narumi doesn't feel like coming to class, the least he could do is tell us before hand so we don't wake up early like dumbasses." At that, he propped up his legs on the desk, took out his trusted manga and put it over his face. Mikan looked at him from her left and sighed. Although she loved her tou-san very much, she agreed with Natsume. Now, she didn't have anything to do for the next hour and half. She looked past Natsume's sleeping figure to see Ruka quietly playing with Usagi, who was on the desk.

"Ruka-pyon, do you want to play a game of tic-tac-toe with me?" smiled Mikan, then she pointed at Natsume in between them, "that pervert is not gonna be any fun."

Ruka smiled, "okay Sakura." Mikan pouted at hearing the blonde boy calling her by her last name. "It's Mikan, Ruka-pyon." Ruka blushed a bit at seeing her cute childish reaction, but smiled at her, "you're right, we've known each other long enough, Mikan."

Ruka was blushing while he said that, which was still confusing to him because, well, he just didn't understand it. He had realized a while ago that he didn't really hold romantic feelings towards the brunette. She was pretty, he couldn't deny that, but he didn't really lover her. It was hard to explain, even to himself when he went though that time when he would be in his room, avoiding his friends, and he would be thinking of what his feeling were for the said girl exactly. It was definitely hard to explain, but he did come up with the fact that he didn't really love Mikan like that, not the way his best friend loved her, wanted her, and needed her. The only explanation his twelve year old mind had come up with back then was that Mikan had been the first girl to show him the interest to be his friend in a non-fangirl kind of way, and since she was indeed a girl, he mistook it as having a crush on her.

Maybe there had been the possibility of a crush, but he didn't want to think about that since he had gotten over whatever infatuation he had with her a while ago. Now all he felt towards the happy-go-lucky girl was a need to protect her when Natsume couldn't, and contentment that they were friends.

Click Click Click

"The girls are going to love this. One smiling, blushing Ruka coming up." said the inventor with the smallest of grins on her face. Ruka glared at the camera and quickly sat up to chase Hotaru around the classroom, in an useless attempt to steal the devise that held his precious face blushing. "Imai! Give me that camera!"

Mikan sweatdropped at the sight of her two friends. It was sort of weird how the only time her 'gentle' friend ever got really mad was when Hotaru blackmailed him. It probable wasn't fun to know that people that stalked you had photos of you doing or wearing embarrassing stuff.

"Imai! Get back here with those pictures!" yelled a red Ruka, out of embarrassment or from anger, it was hard to tell, but he was definitely yelling louder than most days.

Natsume started stirring when he could feel something tickling his cheek. It was probably polka-dots trying to annoy him awake because she was bored. Couldn't she find something productive to do with her time? He got even angrier when the tickling didn't stop, and her...hair? was tickling his neck and cheek. "What the hell.." Natsume opened his eyes to see that Mikan wasn't paying attention to him, but staring at Hotaru and Ruka, who were in the middle of a wrestling competition for her camera. It was then that he noticed that there was a current of air that was getting stronger by the minute. Suddenly, papers were starting to fly off the student's desks and some of the teenagers couldn't help but yell questions at the phenomenon that was occurring inside their classroom.

Ruka and Hotaru, who hadn't noticed, or maybe just didn't care enough about what was going on around them for their own reasons, kept up their antics. Ruka stopped on his tracks, panting a little. Hotaru could definitely be determined when she wanted something. "Imai, you need to stop trying to run away and give me that camera, now!" Ruka's thirteen year old barked at the raven-haired girl, who, in another situation would have ignored it, but a gust of wind somehow managed to push her off her duck scooter. The girl's eyes widened at the reality of her butt hitting the ground any second. It all happened so fast, she didn't even have time to register the fact that she wasn't on the floor in pain, but floating a few inches from the floor, until Mikan rushed over to her and grabbed her hands, making it so that when Mikan touched her, whatever was suspending the girl was no more.

"Ugh!" was the sound that came out of Hotaru's mouth when she hit the floor. Ruka, who was already rushing to her, crouched down besides Mikan. "A-are you okay Imai?" asked the blushing boy. Really? Was it going to be like that every time he talked to a girl?

"Nogi, I'm going to kick your ass." glared Hotaru while she got up with the help of Mikan. Ruka paled a little at her statement. "Hotaru, it wasn't his fault, some strange wind was doing all of it, I saw it."

The gang was coming closer to the front of the class to check on Hotaru and figure out what had happened. Ruka could only nod his head vigorously at Hotaru, "yeah, what she said." The inventor only glared at the blond boy.

"She's right, you know. It was you Ruka"

"As of now, I disown you as my best friend." Ruka murmured as Hotaru looked ready to kill when she picked up her smashed camera from the ground. Ruka was scared of the petite girl, but courageously or stupidly turned his back on Hotaru to ask Natsume what he was talking about.

"EEEEHHHH!"

Natsume didn't have time to explain because the whole classroom was going crazy by his statement and had gone to surround Ruka, questioning him on how he did it. Hotaru looked ready to murder, and Mikan was just looking from Natsume to Ruka trying to process the fact that her friend might have a new alice? She stopped thinking when she, along with her friends, were pushed aside by some of their classmates, who wanted to get closer to Ruka. The boy looked very confused and overwhelmed by what was happening, and couldn't help getting very annoyed by all the people, especially the girl's, asking him to blow them away with his new alice. Ruka couldn't take it anymore, and did what came naturally.

"Everyone, STOP!" bellowed Ruka, noticing how his voice had amplified at some point, and now everyone that had been really close to him, had been blown away by a strong gust of wind and unto the floor. Luckily for him, Hotaru hadn't been affected by it, otherwise, she really wouldn't hold back, and hurt him, no matter what type of crisis Ruka looked like he was having.

Ruka stared at the piles of his classmates around him, some groaning in pain from the impact of hitting the floor and desks behind them. Natsume admitted to himself that he certainly didn't see that one coming, or him being right at all for that matter. He reacted quickly by getting up and dragging his bewildered friend out of the classroom, so he had space and time to calm down. Mikan, who looked ready to faint, noticed herself being pulled by Hotaru, since Mikan still had a hold of her friend's arm after helping her up.

Hotaru and Mikan caught up with Natsume, who was still dragging a dazed Ruka, and they all left the middle school building together.

"Imai, I'm bringing Ruka out here so that he has a chance to calm down and process the situation. I don't think you are what Ruka needs right now to calm down."

"I can be calming; in fact, I can be so calming that people will fall asleep peacefully at my presence."

"They're not falling asleep; they are actually fainting from being in the presence of your evil."

"Well, shame on them for leading me to think that I had a calming presence." Natsume gave up trying to talk to her and instead turned to his friend. He was on the floor, passed out. He didn't even notice that he had dragged him all the way here. He leaned him against his sakura tree and slapped him.

"Ouch!" said Ruka, glaring at Natsume, "I wasn't passed out, I was just in shock"

"Well, I just un-shocked you, I guess" said his monotone friend. Ruka looked at him, and like a computer, ran through the earlier incident in his head, and came to a quick conclusion. "Wow, this is crazy, this doesn't happen often. I have another alice." Natsume just nodded.

"What are you going to do Ruka-pyon?" asked the brunette. Ruka turned to the girls with them. "There's nothing to do! I have the wind alice, I'm guessing, and since I'm already inside the Academy, I think this is pretty cool." grinned Ruka, and Mikan smiled back and congratulated him, as it seemed to be a happy occasion. Hotaru stayed quiet, watching her two friends talk about his new alice, and couldn't help but look at the black cat, who was undeniably looking at his friend with a hint of worry in his eyes. Natsume caught her eyes and they traded silent statements of concern about what could come out of this, the negatives at least.

"We should go back to class, math is after English, and I'm not receiving a detention from Jinjin because you two idiots won't stop fussing like high school girls about a stupid wind alice. Especially you, Nogi." Hotaru turned away from them and started walking back towards the middle school building. Natsume followed behind the stoic inventor, trying to put his uneasiness aside, since it was too early to think that anything bad could come out of this.

"Ahh, Hotaru! Natsume!" yelled Mikan running after them, while pulling a blushing Ruka.

"I wasn't acting like an idiot high school girl" murmured Ruka. Mikan just laughed as they caught up with their two raven-haired friends and smiled at Ruka, "no you weren't, Hotaru was just kidding." Ruka just smiled back at the girl, although he knew that Hotaru was most certainly not kidding, when did the Ice Queen kid?

Natsume, who had been walking somewhere between Hotaru and Mikan, who was next to Ruka, looked back and noticed that Mikan was still holding unto Ruka's hand, who didn't seem to mind at all because the boy, Natsume knew, didn't hold any romantic feelings for the girl, but only cared for her.

Great. His friend was holding Mikan's hand, which was probably like holding his sister's hand, if Ruka had one, and here he was, getting jealous like a big ass. It was also her fault though, for holding the hand of a boy that was neither her boyfriend, thank God, nor her family.

"You should let go of Ruka's hand baka, I'm sure he doesn't want the germs of a girl that wears bear prints on her underwear."

Ruka sweatdropped and then winced in pain as the girl that had been talking to him, made his hand go numb from the death grip she had him on. Thankfully she let go, so that she could, or try to, beat up Natsume for peaking at her underwear. How he always managed to find out the print, she had no idea, but she was sick of it.

"Pervert! Why do you always peek!" shrieked the thirteen year old.

"If you want to call someone a pervert, I suggest you direct your anger at the one that caused all that wind in the classroom before." Natsume pointed at Ruka, who in turn froze when a scary Mikan, whose pigtails were dancing around her head like Medusas', turned to him with a very menacing glare on her pretty face.

"You really aren't on team Ruka today, huh buddy." Ruka grimaced at his friend. Natsume smirked, and noticed a smirking Hotaru, who had stopped in the hallway to watch the show. Ruka sweatdropped as he started running away from the girl that he thought would never be in a position where she wanted to hurt him.

That was the moment that he knew that Natsume and Hotaru were a force to be reckoned with. He also knew never to hold Mikan's hand ever again or be responsible for Hotaru getting hurt in anyway possible. 'With friends like these, who needs enemies?'

Hotaru turned to Natsume, and had a gleam in her eyes. She always thought that Natsume was somehow weak because, unlike her with Mikan, he let Ruka get away with things, and even stepped aside for him that one time when they were supposedly 'fighting' for Mikan. And then for a moment, she almost pitied Ruka, because she knew that while Natsume Hyuga and Hotaru Imai were a force to be reckoned with, her best friend was surely someone you didn't even want to mess with or be around when her underwear was peeked at.

**Ruka's room, Present day. Everyone is 16.**

Ruka couldn't help the moan that escaped his parted lips as he felt his muscles relaxing under Hotaru's delicate, yet strong touch. He sat on his bead enjoying what Hotaru was doing from behind him. His body was so sore by the end of his mission that he knew if it could talk to him, it would probably cuss at him, very violently. He had been so relieved when he saw her waiting for him on his bed, reading a book, probably to pass the time.

Hotaru's face seemed in complete concentration of what she was doing, working her tiny hands over his broad shoulders and neck. When he had arrived, she could almost feel how contracted his muscles were after a long night of…activity. Now, he was fully relaxed and seemed like he was about to drop dead any second. She massaged his neck, and wrapped her hands around it. Too quickly for him to react due to his tiredness, she pulled and twisted on his neck in a way that it made a loud crack.

Ruka groaned, and then sighed, as he felt a new wave of relieve hit him. "Hotaru, I asked you to stop that. One of these days you are going to end up snapping my head off my neck, and I don't think you will be too happy when you see me dead."

He should know, he saw the dead more than he liked to think, and it wasn't something that was desirable to see.

"I think that I'm getting better at it."

"What I wonder is why you have been practicing on me this whole time." Hotaru ran her smooth hands across his arms and wrapped them loosely around his neck. "You're my guinea pig." murmured Hotaru by his ear, making him shiver. She clamped down on the ear, not hard enough to cause him pain, but definitely hard enough to make him wake up, along with his little friend. Then he felt her chest vibrate on his back and he wondered what was so funny.

"Do you remember the time when Mikan almost killed you, literally, almost killed you because she thought that you had used your alice on purpose to peek at her underwear?"

"No"

Hotaru smiled her small smile, "Sure you do. You said that day was so traumatic you would probably never forget it."

Ruka shivered, but still denied it, "Amnesia" was all Ruka said as he turned around to capture the inventor's lips with his. He joined her position of kneeling on the bed and then brought her down on it slowly, not wanting to put distance between them. Hotaru ran her tongue over his bottom lip and pulled apart, "is this your way of telling me to shut up?"

Ruka didn't bother to answer and just went to attack her lips again. Of course it was, she wasn't stupid, but she would let it go, because at the moment, she was glad to have Ruka in her arms and to be with him like this, and apparently he didn't want to reminisce that particular memory.

Mikan could sure be scary when people saw her underwear.

That's it! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Gimmi that sweet and painful feedback, don't be afraid to be HONEST not MEAN, there is a difference. You can call me the most horrible writer in the whole world but you have to back your shit up. That's how it works with me hahaha

Until next time,

yue679


	4. HanaHime Den and Mario Kart

Hahaha so I guess I got more review….like 4 more, but it's OK! because I figured, eventually, if my story is good enough, I will start getting the tons of reviews that I really want.

Anyways, I'm continuing the process of going from the present to the past so that eventually you guys are all caught up with the storyline and all that shiz. Also, I want you guys to understand how the characters have developed in the last three years, which is actually as far as I go in the story age wise.

SOOOO…. here it is people! Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

**HanaHime Den Entrance 3 years ago Ruka is thirteen **

"Narumi-sensei, you have brought me all the way over to this place without really telling me why I'm here." said Ruka, a little nervously. He was standing outside a car door, talking to his teacher, who was sitting comfortably inside the car.

"I already told you Ruka-kun, the middle school principle didn't say why she wanted you, she just said she did, and when Hi-sama wants something, it better be done." said the teacher gravely with a hopeless tone.

SCREEECH!

"so, have a good time!" yelled the teacher from the window with a big smile on his face as the car sped away.

Ruka glared at the back of the car, but his frustrated thoughts were interrupted by a voice behind him. "Welcome Himawari-chan, I'm glad you could make it, even though Hi-sama's request was so sudden." Ruka turned around to find the gates to the HanaHime-den open with Shizune Yamanochi, Hotaru's sempai, waiting for him to move. This was the first time meeting Shizune since they found Aoi, and Ruka couldn't help but be nervous, especially when some of the memories form their first meeting went rushing through his head.

Ruka grimaced but recovered and nodded his head in greeting, "Shizune-san, why am I here?" Ruka voiced out the one question that had been plaguing his head through out the short car ride. Shizune only smiled a small smile, and beckoned Ruka to follow her. Ruka hesitated at first, unsure of the whole situation, but remembered the rumors of Hi-sama's bad temper and thought better about it.

"You have grown Himawari-chan, how old are you now?" Shizune asked, in what seemed light conversation. Ruka's eye twitched at the nickname. "I am thirteen." answered Ruka evenly. He really didn't like this place. Everything about it made him squeamish and uncomfortable. It could be that the den was like a freaking maze of rooms, or that he was walking with the woman that taught Hotaru how to be a freaking blackmailer, or maybe it was the fact that he was going to see Hi-sama, the freaking weirdo that drooled when she saw Hotaru. Ruka didn't stop his mindless ranting that was going on inside his head until he faced a big door, not even after the fleeting thought of Hotaru's name and how weird it sounded when he said it, or thought about it, crossed his mind.

"We're here. Please, go in, and wait for Hi-sama to address you." said Shizune, before leaving Ruka inside the room. Ruka was about to say something when the door was shut in his face and he was left with no option but to turn around and face the Middle School Principle. He gulped as he made his way down the long walk way of the room where they had previously celebrated the New Year's, about three years ago.

"Welcome Himawari-chan" chorused the girls that were bowing on the floor, surrounding the sides of the room, making it so that there was a straight path leading to the MSP. Ruka studied the room, which looked like it had been decorated for some kind of celebration. He noticed that there was a table full of food and plates with half-eaten meals on them.

"Forgive the circumstances Himawari no kimi; we were in the process of celebrating our latest member of the Hanahime. Although, we did try to recruit her before, she didn't accept our invitation. Now, she has finally decided to join us, but won't live with us here in the den, how disappointing." said Hi-sama in a saddened tone from behind her hand fan. Ruka tried to make sense of what she was saying when his eyes spotted amethyst from the rest of the Hanahime and he understood. Ruka's eyes widened, "Imai?"

Hotaru, who had already been staring at him, only said, "They promised good food." Ruka sweatdropped at the inventor. Trust the Ice Queen to accept a private invitation to one of the most prestigious groups to be involved in Gakuen Alice just for the food.

Hi-sama looked from Hotaru to Ruka and smirked behind her fan. "Please, come forward Himawari no kimi." motioned the MSP. Ruka obeyed and walked past all the Hanahime until he reached a decent distance from Hi-sama, and sat in front of her so they were at eye-level. Hi-sama smiled at Ruka, but her words were obviously directed towards the girls. "Flowers, you may go back to your celebrations. Make sure our new member has such a good time that maybe her choice of leaving us will change." Her eyes shifted to Hotaru, who was standing up with the rest of the girls. The inventor's stoic expression turned into that of a small smile and spoke to the MSP, "I am delighted with your invitation to the Hanahime, and I have gladly accepted, but, and forgive me, my place is outside the den. I have friends that need me, otherwise they would be lost without me."

Hi-sama's eyes sparkled when Hotaru finished and she could've sworn she saw some drool coming out from the corner of her mouth. It made her shiver a little. Ruka was too distracted by Hotaru's gentle expression and words to notice this, otherwise he would've shivered along with her. "My, I certainly do know how to pick them" giggle Hi-sama as Hotaru, with one last smile turned to join the rest of the girls. With one last look she turned to Ruka and started to talk to him.

Ruka had been quietly watching the exchange, and even though he admitted to himself that he had been a little dazzled by Hotaru's smile at the moment, he hadn't fail to notice the twitch in Hotaru's eyes or how her face slightly flushed, from anger most likely, when she had to talk directly to Hi-sama. Everyone in their group of friends knew Hotaru hated being around Hi-sama because of the weird, 'attraction' she had towards Hotaru.

"…you came on such short notice. When I heard the news I just had to see Himawari no kimi. Though I am still wondering why I just heard the news after such a long time of something like this happening." Hi-sama inquired with a pretty smile, covering her true feelings of annoyance of being the last one to know. Ruka fidgeted on his spot in front of the MSP, "you found out as soon as everyone else found out principle."

"You mean everyone aside from your close friends and anyone who was witness to the first time your alice was unleashed."

Ruka sighed, as he saw no point in lying, "yes, it is true. It's been a couple of months since I found out that I had the wind alice. We weren't trying to keep a secret, we just didn't talk about it."

"Isn't it the same thing?"

"I never denied it."

A little vein popped in Hi-sama's temple, and Natsume would've been so proud to see Ruka not flinch and try to make a run for it.

"I have always liked you Himawari no kimi, I still do, your girlish features have always helped you with that," Hi-sama smirked and Ruka wanted to say something to defend his pride, but he knew that was payback, "so I will let your insolence pass this one time. I expect any of my students to report to Shizune if an event like this occurs. I always have expected this, and you are no exception." said the principle dangerously.

"Now that we have that covered, I have to ask you, have you been contacted by any of the other principles yet?" Hi-sama inquired. Ruka was surprised by the question, "no, why?" Hi-sama only looked at Ruka for a moment from behind her fan before briefly answering, "No particular reason, just a thought I had. Well, I am done bothering you with my silly questions. Now I must ask of you that you safely return my little flower to her dorm, so that I can continue my day without worries." said Hi-sama as she signaled Shizune to wrap things up.

Shizune caught Hi-sama's signal, whispered something to Hotaru and then started giving out orders to the other girls. Hi-sama turned from Hotaru, who was walking towards her and Ruka, and gave the wind alice a smile, "it's so handy that Shizune chose to stay with me as my personal attendant. She knows how to handle the girls so well."

Ruka, who was having a hard problem keeping a straight face, didn't say anything, and only gave her a nervous smile as he stood up, seeing that Hotaru was already by his side. "Hi-sama" bowed Ruka, as his word of parting, and started walking down the long, carpeted walkway that lead to the door. Hi-sama turned from the boy to Hotaru "It was a real pleasure having you Waka Murasaki, and even more knowing that you are one of us now." smiled the principle dreamingly. Hotaru did an amazing job at not letting a deathly sick feeling overpower her and she smiled back a small smile. She stayed quiet, not wanting to say anything that might make her stay any longer, and bowed her head, mirroring Ruka. Hotaru was never really the type to kiss others ass, she preferred it better when other people kissed hers. Well, not literally, although she knew plenty of people that would actually love to do that, including the person in front of her.

She gracefully came back up and followed Ruka towards the door. Hi-sama, not put out by this…much, only gave her a hidden smile. She watched as Hotaru went besides Ruka, who had been waiting for her in the middle of the room, and as the two teens were exiting the big gold doors, they didn't miss the MSP's parting words, subtle but audible enough, as Ruka closed the door behind him.

"Be careful Himawari no kimi"

They both ignored it, but Ruka couldn't help the weird feeling it gave him. Although, that might also be from the fact that it came from her mouth. Ruka suppressed a shiver and turned to Hotaru's yukata clad form, and asked "So why did you decide to spy on me again?"

Hotaru smirked and held out her hand. Ruka handed her the little microphone he had put in his shirt pocket and rolled his eyes at Hotaru's 'all knowing' expression. "Honestly, I was surprised at how good your reaction was when you saw me. Guess all those plays you've been in are finally doing you some good besides earning me some cash. About why I spied on you, it's simple. I wanted to know what the principle wanted to talk to you about. Apparently nothing, so that does kind of piss me off because I'm stuck in this stupid club now, but no matter. This should just show you how far I'm willing to go to get information.

Ruka watched as Hotaru walked ahead of him towards the car that had been waiting for them outside the HanaHime Den. She went in and greeted Narumi-sensei, while they waited for Ruka to reach them.

He shivered at the girl's last words.

**Natsume's Special Star Room Present Time Ruka is sixteen **

"Come on baby, come on"

"My finger is starting to hurt"

"What are you doing! You need to go faster!"

"I'm trying! It's hard to concentrate with you guys watching, this is my first time you know."

"Koko shut up, or you are leaving my room."

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God"

"Mikan, take it easy, if your finger hurts, I can take over."

"Oh lincho, thank you, hopefully you can do better than me and Ruka."

"Polka, you wimp"

"Natsume-kun, I'm sorry, but I'm not as experienced as you or the others."

Feelings of dismay only came for the two girls that had come into the room, only to find all of their friends huddling close to the couch that was facing the big screen TV in one of the corners of the special star room.

"You guys are still playing that stupid video game?" Sumire snorted as she went towards the open kitchen to put all the goodies they had snuck from the cafeteria kitchen on the counter. Hotaru didn't help her, and instead just went to the group. Mikan, who had trouble ungluing her eyes from the screen, darted her eyes from the TV to her friend, who was already standing besides her.

"Hotaru, it's amazing, Natsume hasn't lost one race yet. He's like a Mario Kart Genius." gushed Mikan, as she praised her boyfriend. Hotaru rolled her eyes and looked down at the boys on the couch. The first note she made was that her secret boyfriend, for lack of better term, was the jerkiest out of the three, and she couldn't help but feel embarrassed for him, though her expression didn't show it. Then Yuu, who was on Natsume's left, did a more graceful job at controlling himself, even though he was in third place, not counting the game's players. Natsume, who was in first place, had the controller held by his hands on his lap, and his permanent bored expression etched on his face. His relaxed poise did nothing for the nerves of the other two players. Hotaru mentally shook her head and as she watched the other boys hollering at them to go faster or use a particular button that would apparently release a banana and hit the car behind them, wondered what it was that made males react in such a way to video games.

"Noooo!" yelled Ruka as he stood up and stared at the TV in shock of what had just happened. Yuu cursed as he handed the controller to Koko, who had come from the kitchen and a bag of chips in his hand to take his place. Ruka was still staring at the TV in shock, holding the cord of the controller, keeping it from hitting the floor.

"Ruka, if you can't handle it, then give the controller to someone who wants to play." said Natsume as he grabbed a couple of chips from the bag, and stuffed them in his mouth. This seemed to make Ruka come back to reality, "no dude, I'm definitely beating you this time." said Ruka, with such determination in his voice that it made the flame caster roll his eyes. "Whatever, it's just a game." he murmured as he went to grab another handful of chips, which were snatched from their place before he could take any. His eyes followed the culprit's arm until he found her glaring face.

"How about we don't spoil our appetite before dinner, ne? Natsume-kun. I'm even making your favorite" Anna said sweetly, though it was her twitching eye that told Natsume to just let her take the chips away without a fight, but not before throwing a dirty look towards Koko, who was sitting next to him.

"Okay okay, enough of this nonsense, no, wasn't talking about your cooking dear Anna-chan. Natsume, choose a course so I can kick your ass!" exclaimed the overly excited boy as he sat back down, barely, on the right of his best friend.

"Is there a fourth controller?" asked Hotaru, who by this time was more than interested in finding out more about this particular game and it's effects on people. She had a million scientific questions, but at the moment she just wanted to play the game that had her fool of a boyfriend acting so idiotic that it could bring tears to Mikan's eyes. Everyone's eyes followed Hotaru as she went around the couch and sat by Ruka. Natsume's eyebrow rose in half disbelief, half amusement. "This should be interesting," he murmured under his breath, "It's in the right drawer of the TV stand"

"You're playing Hotaru?" asked Nonoko, who was sitting on Yuu's lap on the recliner that was to the right of the couch. Hotaru connected the controller to the Wii system and only nodded as she sat back down. Natsume smiled at this, "finally, some real competition." murmured the boy as he tucked his leg underneath him and straightened out.

"Hey!" Ruka and Koko cried out in indignation, while Hotaru's eyes glinted with the silent promise of a challenge.

- 2 Hours later –

Everyone sat by the table in Natsume's room, eating Anna's delicious cooked meal and conversing, while passing each other the stuff on the table, so they could serve themselves. Ruka sweatdropped as he watched Mikan trying to console a sulking Natsume, though if he heard Ruka saying this, he would hurt him and then tell him that he does not sulk. He gave a quick peek to Hotaru who was stuffing herself with some crabs and mindlessly listening to a story Sumire was telling her about another girl in her science class, and suppressed the hint of desire for the girl that had hit him. He had to admit that from the time that his girlfriend had started to beat his best friend in the game, he found her so much hotter for some reason.

He really had just wanted to ravish her right there and then.

Hotaru caught Ruka's eyes and saw right through him. She sent him a knowing smirk as she silently stood up and went towards the door. Yuu who had been sitting next to the inventor noticed this "You're leaving Hotaru?" asked Yuu as he ate something that Nonoko was offering him with her chopsticks. The inventor looked back as she opened the door, "yes, I need to get started on this project that just came up. The ideas for it just keep popping up in my mind." said Hotaru with a wink of her eyes; pretty sure that only one person caught it. She turned on her heels and closed the door. Ruka quickly lowered his face to hide the wide grin on it.

Ruka started excusing himself from the table, talking about how he needed to get to the library to meet with some people for a group project from one of his classes. Anna looked up at him and gave him a crestfallen look, and Ruka couldn't help but feel guilty that he was trading was trading Anna's special cooked dinner for sex with Hotaru.

It didn't mean that he wanted it any less.

Natsume, who was sitting next to his friend, noticed Ruka's reaction to Anna's look and smirked. He turned to Ruka who was eating again, after he told Anna that those people could wait for him to finish his delicious meal and smiled when the cooking alice's expression brightened. "Before, I thought that you were just whipped when it came to Mikan because of the crush you use to have, but now, I just think you can't say no to a pretty girl period." smirked the raven-haired boy. Ruka rolled his eyes at his best friend and threw a piece of pork at him, which Natsume caught with his chopsticks and popped in his mouth.

Ruka looked at the clock, and since death by Hotaru wasn't one of the top things that day, he slipped out after ten minutes of praising Anna's dinner.

As soon as he left Natsume's door, he went towards his door and thanked God for him having a special star room too. He opened the door, which he already knew would be unlocked, and slid in, closing the door behind him with a click. He turned to find a figure by his bed, which he knew to be Hotaru, even though the lights were off so he couldn't see very well.

"About time. For a second I thought that your small brain didn't catch my message." said Hotaru, who was sitting of the edge of her boyfriend's bed, with her legs crossed.

"I'll show you something that's not small" said Ruka cheekily, as he pulled his shirt over his head. Hotaru followed the shirt to the floor, and darted her eyes to Ruka's chest and abs. She smiled when he came in front of her and took a moment to appreciate her. His eyes travelled from her face to every possible spot that there was to look at of her petite frame. He especially liked the fact that she had taken the time to put on one of the shirts that he said she looked sexy in.

Oh, and how sexy she looked.

He went down and took her lips as he slowly dragged them both to the middle of the bed. Hotaru attacked back with as much intensity and no one had to ask permission for entrance for a tongue battle had already broken out. Ruka's lips parted with Hotaru's as he planted small kisses and sometimes grazed his teeth against her neck. Hotaru's eyes rolled back as he bit down and then licked on the sensitive area of her neck.

Oh, how she loved it when he bit her.

"Did you turn the sound proof system on?" Ruka whispered hotly in her ear as his hands travelled up her naked thigh, lifting the shirt in the process, and fiddling with the hem of her underwear.

"No" whispered Hotaru as she turned them both on the bed, and she assaulted his mouth with hers, forcing his open. She grabbed his face with her tiny hands as she kissed him and grinded her hip against Ruka's growing member. Ruka hissed as the friction was starting to bother him, and the solution was so close but would probably torture him for a while longer. Hotaru's hands travelled down his chest, caressing his lean figure, and she smirked after he threw his head back when she took one of his nipple into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it.

"You do know that our friends are next door right now, enjoying their dinner, and they don't want to hear sex noises while eating. Let's not even talk about the fact that they SHOULDN'T be hearing this." murmured Ruka with a dazed expression as Hotaru kissed down Ruka's stomach and glided her tongue until she reached where his pants met his hips. "Let them hear it." muttered Hotaru as she started to slowly undo Ruka's pants. She was unable to pull anything off because Ruka, in one swift motion, had her underneath him one again. Her eyes widened when she heard the tearing sound of clothes and she just knew that she was going to have to make another trip to Central Town to replace all the underwear that he had been doing the same thing to lately.

She couldn't complain at all because it turned her on to no end.

Ruka smirked down to her as he threw her undergarment on the floor, along with the forgotten shirt, and leisurely went down to catch Hotaru's ear in his teeth, which she shivered at.

"I hope you mean that, because tonight, I promise, you will scream, a lot"

And scream, she did.

- Natsume's room -

Natsume grunted as he was trying to think of a plan to get his friends out of his room. He didn't really want to leave the comfort of his lair, which was what he called his room to himself because if it wasn't for Mikan, he would live in this place, but he was seemed forced to when his keen hearing picked up some weird noises coming from his best friend's room. If his suspicions were right, he wanted to get as far away as possible before his friends heard something that was obviously supposed to be a secret, even if he still didn't understand why.

"What's wrong Natsume? You seem uncomfortable." asked Mikan as she put her hand to Natsume's forehead. He stared up from his food, forgotten already, and quickly, before he could stop himself, lifted his hand to Mikan's neck and pressed.

"Oh my gosh Mikan-chan!" yelled Nonoko as she pushed her chair back so she could stand up and catch Mikan. Between Nonoko and Natsume they prevented her from hitting the floor, and Natsume scooped her up in his arms, swiftly walking towards the door. Everyone in the table caught on with Natsume and opened the door for him as they followed him, while murmuring about Mikan's suddenly fainting. Natsume's eye twitched as he thought of an excuse to give to the group.

"I told her not to eat all that spicy food but the idiot wouldn't listen to me." said Natsume lamely, but since it came from him, the gang slowly started to nod their heads at the situation. The flame caster sighed and silently cursed Ruka and Hotaru to the deepest parts of hell for making him do something as troublesome as this.

…

yup, I just did that.

That's it! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Gimmi that sweet and painful feedback, don't be afraid to be HONEST not MEAN, there is a difference. You can call me the most horrible writer in the whole world but you have to back your shit up. That's how it works with me hahaha

Until next time,

yue679


	5. Chapter 5 ESP and Missions

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

I want to dedicate this chapter to **Vicious Unicorn**. It's because of you that I'm at this moment typing away at this chapter. You really did sound like a motivational speaker hahahaha. No, but seriously, I have been trying really hard to write this chapter for the past month and nothing. And because of Vicious Unicorn's comment I got all excited, and now the ideas are just flowing all around my small brain!...umm, I mean, HUGE brain.

Anyways, thank you for everyone who has reviewed up until now, and people who add me in their favs or author alerts. Support is always needed and loved!

Chapter 5

_**Middle of unknown forest. Ruka is sixteen. **_

Ruka wiped the bead of salty liquid that was threatening to roll down his face. His features seemed that of deep concentration as he typed at a fast speed on his computer. His position was an uncomfortable one. Not much because he was leaning on a wall, crouched down hoping no one would see him, but more because of his location. He was leaning on one of the many "secret-hidden-in-the-middle-of-the-forest" warehoused that the AAO owned.

Being around people that wanted to torture information out of you to only then kill you wasn't really a thought that wouldn't make you uncomfortable.

He didn't get nervous anymore about these small missions, they were quite common lately, but he just had too many things on his mind and he just wanted to get back home. His swiveling thoughts stopped dead along with his fingers when he heard someone approaching him. The wind alice wanted to peek from the corner he was at but didn't dare. His fist tightened and he hissed a curse at the thought of having to go into action before he was able to hack into the AAO's files and get a map of the building, to hopefully make this an easy mission, but it didn't seem like luck was on his side that night.

The footsteps were getting closer, and Ruka, with a sigh, roll of his eyes and a whispered shit sliding past his gritted teeth, closed his laptop and set it on the ground next to him. It seemed like there wasn't going to be anything quick and easy about this mission.

The AAO guard dragged his feet from the front of the building, towards the side wall of the building, making the usual round of the building he was supposed to make in the middle of his shift. He fixed the machine gun hanging on his back from the strap, and stretched his aching back as he rounded the corner, and found nothing, like usual. 'This job is sure getting predictable' thought the bored watchman when suddenly he felt a heavy weight hit his slouching back that took him down.

The poor guy didn't even know what hit him as he was unconscious before he could reach for his firearm and defend himself from the unknown attacker. Ruka removed his hand from the man's neck, where he had hit a nerve so he was knocked unconscious, and ran towards the other side of the building to enter though the back door. There wouldn't be much time before they noticed the guard missing, and then Ruka would really not have a good time going into a building full people that were after him. The wind alice stopped at the corner, and searched the area for anyone guarding the backdoor of the warehouse. His eyes spotted two figures, one slightly smaller in stature, standing by the entrance. Ruka concentrated his wind alice on his feet, and came out form his corner at a fast speed towards the unsuspecting guard, who didn't get a word in before Ruka, with a jab to each of their skulls, he let them fall on the ground. His alice left his feet and let him touch the ground. His expression turned from apathetic to cheerful as the blond boy celebrated the fact that his attacks hadn't created any sort of commotion and tipped off his enemies.

It was always the small missions that screwed him over and always went wrong in some way.

Ruka grabbed the keys from the female guard, and wasted no time in busting into the building. He stopped and shut the door slowly, cringing when it creaked while closing. The wind alice looked around and made his way down the hallway in a amusing thief-like motion. Persona would kill him if he saw how UNseriously he was taking this mission. His teacher made it a point that they should take every mission gravely and like their lives were on the line.

Ruka, on the other hand, didn't really belief in the whole "You might die today" way of thinking.

So he merrily made his way to the center room of the building, where the AAO usually kept their important documents and drives. Ruka peered in and sneaked a glance at the empty room, while he kept his other senses on his back that was facing the hallway. He almost sighed a breath of relief at the fact that he was almost done, when a very loud alarm, rivaling Mikan's screams, resounded throughout what seemed the whole forest, and the sound of rushing footsteps could be heard approaching his direction. The boy sweat dropped and whined a bit when he heard, probably the commander officer of the guards in the building yell "capture, torture, and kill him!"

_Dangerous Ability classroom 1:37am_

Persona's eyes diverted from the paper he was reading to items that had been thrown on his teacher's desk by the one and only wind alice in his class. The death alice raised his eyebrow at the sudden show of anger, but didn't question and just went back to his paper.

"I need a healing stone before I go back."

Persona turned the page to the newspaper he was reading, "Healing stones are only-"

"reserved for A-ranked missions, I know, but that's just because we assume that C-ranked missions won't physically harm us." Ruka said, with a exasperated tone to his voice. "Which is just totally wrong, because really, there is always the possibility that we have underestimated a situation, or the spy assigned to the mission does something to trigger some kind of alarm that alerted the enemy teleportation alice to bring in reinforcements to be able to capture, torture and kill said spy."

Persona stared at the paper hard before lowering it down so he could take a glimpse of the boy in front of him. The boy wore a few cuts all around his upper body, and had blood dripping from the side of his head down to his right eye, which was closed to prevent the red liquid from entering the eye. He could see all the damage clearly because what was supposed to be one of their expensive mission uniform shirts, was now nothing more than shreds of clothing around his waist, threating to fall on the ground.

"What the hell happened?" asked the teacher in a threatening tone, while slowly standing up from his seat. Ruka gulped a little before backing away an inch, "we clearly underestimated the situation, that's all!" he rushed out as the death alice made his way closer to the backing away student.

"More like, you didn't take your mission seriously again, and you got your ass handed to you," bit out the taller man. "Your identity must remain a secret from the AAO, that's why your identity as a DA student remains a secret among the students. For that reason, we trained you, I trained you, to be the kind of agent that can stand on his own and not need a partner when you go on any type of mission, be it an A-ranked one, or a stupid C-rank-retrieve-a-stupid-drive-and documents type of mission." Almost shouted Persona, but not quiet since it wasn't like him to do so.

The teacher's glare died down as he massaged his forehead with his thumb and index. "You know what? I'm just going to stop right there because I sound like your fucking mother. I have told you this same thing more than once, so I'm done. Go away now." Finished Persona, as he turned from Ruka and went back behind the desk.

Ruka blinked his shock away quickly, "Wow, what's up with the self-control there Sensei? I was sure you were about to kick my ass like you always do." Said Ruka while he casually leaned on the edge of the teacher's desk. Persona glanced at the boy and then proceeded to examine the file of documents on his desk. Ruka pouted when it seemed that he wasn't going to be getting a response from him. "Well, can I at least have that healing stone before I leave? Since it seems like your done talking to me."

"Why don't you have Kuro Neko lick your wounds?"

Ruka grimaced at the unappealing yaoi thought about his best friend, "So you're just going to let me bleed to death in my room all alone? I have cuts all over my body."

"Not alone in your room really." Persona's stoic expression came up to meet surprised orbs as a reaction to the implication that statement brought. The teacher settled his head on his hands and kept on looking at his student. "Why don't you have the doctor's little sister, who is probably waiting for you in your room, stitch you up all nice and tight tonight?" asked Persona, with a glint of mockery in his dark eyes. Ruka stood up from the desk and stared at his Sensei's dull expression hard before he turned around and headed for the door.

"Whatever, if you don't want to help me and instead babble about something random and weird then go ahead. I'm heading back to my room" Shrugged the wind alice, and quickly disappeared through the classroom door leaving his teacher in the huge classroom alone.

Ruka sped up when he was away from the teaching space and out of the building. He cursed low under his breath while he kicked a small rock straight towards a tree. Ruka knew that Hotaru wasn't in any real danger by Persona knowing about them, but he still couldn't help feeling anxious at the possibility of anyone knowing. Anyways, it was Sensei himself who had drilled into his mind for years to never trust or depend on anyone.

Ruka mulled over how much Persona really knew and what that entailed while in the elevator that was taking him to the Special Star floor. He hurried into his room, not wanting to have to possibly meet Natsume in the hallway, and have him see him all bloody. He probably looked worse than what he felt.

The wind alice opened his door stealthily and slipped inside. His alice shut his door behind him, while he went straight into his bathroom. Ruka groaned at the maddening thoughts and flipped the light switch rather violently. He breathed in deeply and took a long sigh, got out of his clothes sluggishly and with a weary expression, discarded them on the floor and turned on the hot water. He let the water run for a bit, helping him loosen up the knots on his back, before he added some cold water to make his shower comfortable. Ruka's arm came across his chest to let his hand massage his nape.

It didn't feel nowhere near as good as when Hotaru did it.

Persona had been wrong about one thing. There wasn't going to be any Doctor's little sister waiting for him tonight in his room. It wasn't that big of a deal, since he had taken care of himself after a mission before alone, and it wasn't like she was there every time he had a mission anyways. He just missed her presence tonight, especially because Persona's comment just made him want her in his arms, where he knew she would be safe.

Ruka let the warm water run down his body a few more minutes before he shut it and exited the shower. He grabbed the towel that was on the floor, probably still there from yesterday, and went to wipe the condensation from his full-length bathroom mirror. His cerulean eyes traveled down his body, inspecting the gravity of his now clean wounds. His legs were unscratched, save for a few bruises, which his pants would be able to cover. Ruka examined his arms, and studied the now clean cuts. Those would be impossible to hide if they weren't just covered, and Ruka groaned at the thought of wearing his high school coat all day.

The blonde boy turned and went into his dark room, letting the bathroom light guide him to his closet. He found a dark blue pair of boxers, which he put on, and threw himself face down on his King sized bed. He let out a prolonged groan into his beige sheets, and when he got that out of his system, he turned around to face the ceiling.

It annoyed him that he was in such a foul mood, which didn't really make much sense or fix anything, but the blonde boy was too tired to logically think of what made sense anymore. His thoughts revolved around a certain inventor, and while that was always a thought that cheered him up, tonight it was making him restless, and not in a love-sick-good kinda way.

If Sensei knew about Hotaru, who else? Were they being that obvious? Sure, Sensei was a perceptive man, he had to be, but he himself was just as good as Sensei. Well, maybe his feeling for Hotaru had been clouding his skills lately and not letting him be careful enough. Would Sensei say anything to the higher ups? Were Hotaru and him going to have to have this kind of hidden relationship until they graduated. Could he really make Hotaru give up so much? He already tried to "break it off", well, not really, but his intentions were something along the lines and Hotaru didn't have any of it. What could the school do to Hotaru anyways? She was such a well-known person, inside and outside the academy, they would never get away with hurting her. But even if the possibility wasn't high, it's not like he could just take the chance. She wasn't something to gamble with. He had to keep her safe, from them.

Ruka sighed, put his arm across his eyes, and wished his jumbled thoughts away before they made him decide to do anything rash.

He was going to tell her about this. They would talk and figure out a solution together.

"Come back already Hotaru."

_Eastern Forest, Everyone is fourteen _

A smaller version of Ruka on top of a great orange cat could be seen running through a vast forest. The boy's face showed pure intensity as he concentrated his alice on the tiger to get him to go faster. The duo raced towards the open field that would take the wind/pheromone alice to class.

On time, well, that was yet to be seen.

Ruka had been joyful when they were finally middle schoolers. The school and dorms were way closer to the Eastern Forest than the elementary area, so now he could visit Piyo in the mornings instead of having to wait till after school. Not only that, but the barn was in the same forest, in fact, most animals that Ruka liked to deal with were in the Eastern Forest. Ruka's expression became blissful just thinking about how much fun he had that morning with all his friends when the tiger suddenly stopped, throwing the young boy off of him and into the ground in front of the big cat. The tiger growled at a black figure standing a few feet away from them and nudged his master, who was groaning from his meeting with the hard ground.

"Ruka Nogi, the Elementary School Principle wishes to see you right now," said a monotonous voice, as the owner of the voice stepped closer. The orange tiger hissed at the same time that Ruka opened his eyes in a shocked manner to look at the man in front of him, his pain all but forgotten. Ruka stood up, not wanting to be caught off guard when the man that tortured Natsume so much was in front of him.

Not that he was capable of defending himself from such man really.

Persona fixed his eyes on the boy before he turned around, fully expecting that the boy would follow him. Ruka frowned before he took a step forward, when he heard a low growl from his animal friend behind him. Ruka turned around and gave him a small smile and petted it before he went ahead to follow behind the DA teacher. The blonde boy fell into step with Persona, but made sure not to peek up at him, so he didn't look like a curious little boy. He would've rather not followed the adult in the first place, but Persona had an air about him that reminded him of Natsume and Imai combined.

Now exactly two people you wanted to defy.

"Your reaction time is terrible, in fact you have no reflexes at all." Said Persona, never looking at the boy next to him. Ruka's head snapped up to meet the teacher's face, but said nothing since the man wasn't really asking him anything, just saying something uncalled for and rude. Why did he care anyways?

They walked in silence all the way to the elementary building, into the Principal's office.

Ruka had visited the main office and talked to the secretaries before, but never had he been inside the principal's office or personally spoken with him for that matter. So it was natural he felt extremely nervous when as soon as they walked in, the ESP looked up at him with an all-knowing smirk on his face and dismissed the dangerous ability teacher without ever taking his eyes off of the blonde boy.

Persona left the room with no farewell, closed the door behind him, and left Ruka all alone with a man he had never met in his life. Not only that, but that man was giving him a look that could rival Hi-sama's in terms of freakiness.

Were all principals this creepy?

"Please Ruka, sit." motioned the Elementary School Principle. Ruka took a second to snap from his position by the door and proceeded to the chairs facing the ESP's desk. The wind alice took this moment to study the person behind the large desk. Large compared to the person occupying it, anyways. The man, or rather boy, seemed to be of slight smaller stature as Ruka, and Ruka made it a point that he hadn't really grown at all since Ruka had come to the academy. He could remember musing back then that the principle was the same height as him.

Ruka reached his seat, and avoided the ESP's intent eyes by pretending to be interested in the rather large office.

"Ruka, I'm glad you could come." Smiled the child at the teenage boy. Ruka turned his attention to the ESP, and nodded in response. "It didn't seem like I had much of a choice." Said Ruka evenly, gaining courage from the fact that he could probably easily beat the principle if he needed to. The ESP's smile became wider at the student's response, "you always have a choice with anything you do Ruka."

The wind alice suppressed a shiver at the boy's statement, and just waited for him to say anything else. The principal's grin fell off and he gave Ruka a content look, while he leaned back on his black leather chair. "I recently learned that you have a acquired a new alice, how is that going for you?" asked the boy with that same even-content expression, like his question was leading to something that was inevitable, and he was just making the situation longer for his personal entertainment.

Ruka averted his eyes in an awkward manner, not knowing how to answer that. "Good, I guess. I found out my alice type is the Intermittent type, so no worries there." Ruka said, a quick image of his best friend flashing through his mind. He shook his head mentally to forget about that thought for the moment.

"Ah! That's great!" the ESP exclaimed as he clapped his hands together, celebrating the news. He brought his hands together, "surely then you won't have a problem with helping out the academy a bit, since it won't pose any risk to your health." Smiled the boy, in what almost felt in a mocking way towards Ruka. They blonde boy's eyes widened at the smaller boy's words.

"What?" Ruka stood up from his chair fiercely, almost knocking it over, and glared at the boy with power in front of him. "You want to do the same thing that you do Natsume to me!"

The ESP stood up from his chair too, except he wasn't on Ruka's same level, "but there's the beauty! You can help your friend now. You've always wanted the power to do something more for your friend and not just be another weight on Natsume's shoulder, this is your chance!" enthused the elementary principle. Ruka's expression calmed down, but his glare didn't die down. He couldn't say anything because it was all true. And the 'weight on Natsume's shoulder' had hit straight home. Ruka's form slumped on the chair behind him with the weight of the ESP's words. He felt like he had just had a two hour physical battle with the boy in front of him and he hadn't even broken a sweat.

The ESP smiled, and slowly sat back down. "Any mission you take from now on will be a load off your friend's back. Honestly, at the rate that Natsume's going, five more years of missions, well, let's just say that we don't even know if he'll last those five years to service us." said the ESP with sympathy in his voice, and his eyes casted down.

Ruka looked up and sneered at the principal's words and act, a sound unbecoming of him, but he still couldn't help himself, "what do I have to do?"

They principle found Ruka's eyes and smirked, "nothing really. The wind alice is such a great and powerful alice, all you have to do is let us teach you how to use it to your advantage, and five years from now you live happily ever after." Grinned the boy at Ruka. "Also, you can't tell anyone about this. You won't even be joining the other dangerous ability students, since it's of utmost importance that your identity as an agent stays a secret. If anyone were to find out, it would be a risk of your identity being found out, and then the higher ups and I would be forced to deal with it. That's why I recommend that you don't drag anyone into this deal by getting closer to them than necessary."

Ruka had had enough. The wind alice pushed his chair back while standing up, making a scrapping sound that echoed in the large office, and turned to leave.

"Meet your new trainer in the Northern Forest at 10pm sharp."

Ruka looked back, his bangs covering his eyes, "like I have a choice." He murmured before opening the enormous doors and storming out. The teenager could've sworn he had heard the ESP say something else that he hadn't caught, but didn't care enough to go back.

"You always have a choice Ruka."

Waaah! I'm SO sorry. I haven't updated in ages! I wonder if you're all even alive! You guys probably already married some boy/girl and had a bunch of babies, and are now renowned professionals! Leaving me and my nerdy story all alone!

Boo-hooo T-T

Ok, done with the dramatics. I'm really sorry for being absent for so long. You know, there's this tricky thing called life, and it sometimes throws curve balls at you.

But you know what they say! When life gives you lemons, THROW A LEMON PARTY!...or something like that.

Thanks to anyone who is reading my story still, even though I don't deserve it

That's it! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

Gimmi that sweet and painful feedback, don't be afraid to be HONEST not MEAN, there is a difference. You can call me the most horrible writer in the whole world but you have to back your shit up. That's how it works with me hahaha

Until next time,

yue679


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